Luke Owen with some thoughts on Hercules after seeing some sneak-peak footage…
The words “directed by Brett Ratner” do not inspire a lot of confidence in movie lovers. Many have argued that the success of the Rush Hour movies was down to Jackie Chan “directing” them and he will always be remembered as the man who ruined the X-Men franchise with X-Men: The Last Stand. But based on the footage seen for his latest blockbuster Hercules starring Dwayne Johnson, he looks like he might be onto a winner.
Everyone knows the legend of Hercules and his twelve labors. Our story begins after the labors, and after the legend… Haunted by a sin from his past, Hercules has become a mercenary. Along with five faithful companions, he travels ancient Greece selling his services for gold and using his legendary reputation to intimidate enemies. But when the benevolent ruler of Thrace and his daughter seek Hercules’ help to defeat a savage and terrifying warlord, Hercules finds that in order for good to triumph and justice to prevail… he must again become the hero he once was… he must embrace his own myth… he must be Hercules.
The footage shown saw Hercules and his merry men (and lone female) take on a very vicious army of half naked dirty men who lure them into a trap. As action scenes go, it’s very enjoyable. It is not breaking any new grounds and it will not rank as the best seen this year (or any other year for that matter), but it would be hard to say that it was rubbish. Ratner is, if nothing else, a very competent director and he holds each one of his shots and stages them very well. The action is frantic, but the camera and editing allow for the audience to see what is happening and the effects employed do not distract from what is happening on screen. In the Q&A following the footage, Brett Ratner made the point clear that they wanted to build sets and have everything on screen tangible rather than put the actors in a green room and add the detail in post-production and this is evident on screen as it really adds to the movie’s “reality”.
Earlier in the footage we saw Hercules go on a training montage of sorts where he had to prove that he was worthy of possessing the strength of a God and, while the action scene following was good, this section looked to be more interesting. He battles giant monsters, fierce lions and mystical wilder beasts and it all looks like great fun. One hopes that these scenes are given time to digest and are not skipped through as quickly as they were in today’s screening as they could end up being some of the movie’s high points.
The footage shown and the Q&A after went to great lengths to show that, despite being a heavily male-led cast, Hercules was also about empowering women. Ingrid Bolsø Berdal’s Atalanta is often put centre stage during the action sequence and it seems as though the marketing team are quite keen for her to become the next Katniss Everdeen. This comes into question somewhat when the other female star of the movie, Irina Shayk, is shown three times in the trailer and all three shots are of her getting undressed.
It seems as though Paramount (as well as Ratner and Johnson) are quite enthused about the possibility of turning Hercules into a franchise as this is very much a passion project for the man once known as The Rock. It is likely that the movie will do well, but its doubtful that it will be a box office smash as compared to Michael Bay’s Transformers.
Based on the footage shown, Brett Ratner’s Hercules looks like it will be an explosive, thrilling and fun action movie – but it will most likely be completely “okay” once all is said and done. There was certainly nothing hateable about it but there wasn’t really anything in the action scene or the 3D trailer that followed that makes it look like it will stand out from the crowd. Dwayne Johnson will be his usual charismatic self, the rest of the cast look great in their roles and Brett Ratner looks like he has done the most competent of jobs. Hercules may not be one of the best films of the year, but it most likely won’t be one of the worst.
Look out for the Q&A highlights on the next episode of the Flickering Myth Podcast…
Hercules opens on July 25th 2014 with a cast that also includes Ian McShane (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), Rufus Sewell (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter), Joseph Fiennes (American Horror Story), Peter Mullan (Tyranosaur), John Hurt (Snowpiercer), Rebecca Ferguson (The White Queen), Aksel Hennie (Headhunters), Reece Ritchie (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time) and Tobias Santelmann (Kon-Tiki).
Originally published July 2, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
